UKOLN is supported by: e-Research: trends, requirements and challenges Dr Liz Lyon, UKOLN, University of Bath, UK Cross Research Council ICT Conference NeSC, Edinburgh, May a centre of expertise in digital information management

Cross Research Council ICT Conference2 Overview Looking at the trends –Open access publishing –Diversification of resources Identifying requirements –Towards a common infrastructure –Virtual research environments The scholarly knowledge cycle –A changing landscape –The eBank UK Project Challenges for the future

Looking at the trends

The next generation of research breakthroughs will rely upon new ways of handling the immense amounts of data that are being produced by modern research methods and equipment, such as telescopes, particle accelerators, genome sequencers and biological imagers….Similar developments are having an impact in the arts and humanities, and in the social sciences. A Vision for Research, Research Councils UK, December 2003.

Cross Research Council ICT Conference5 Report of the National Science Foundation Blue-Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure

Cross Research Council ICT Conference6 Open Access - a global initiative US Sabo Bill (Public Access to Science) DAREnet Dutch scientific results Australian government statement Berlin Declaration (BOAI) WSIS Declaration of Principles & Plan of Action Wellcome Trust statement JISC FAIR Programme UK Parliament Science & Technology Committee Inquiry on Scientific Publications

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The governments of …34 countries…recognising that open access to….data promotes scientific progress… declare their commitment to work towards the establishment of access regimes for digital research data…in accordance with the following principles…. openness, transparency, legal conformity, formal responsibility, professionalism, protection of IPR, interoperability, quality and security, efficiency, accountability….. OECD Declaration on access to research data from public funding. January 2004

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Cross Research Council ICT Conference11 e-Research trends summary Increasingly data–intensive, quantitative Open access to data and information Implementing new science Inter-disciplinary New disciplines e.g. Astro-informatics New skills requirements –IT + statistics + domain Collaborative Highly distributed resources

Cross Research Council ICT Conference12 Distributed resources….used in new ways Primary / original data –Observational, experimental, numeric, genomic, 2/3D molecular structures, satellite images, electron micrographs, wave spectra, CAD, musical compositions, VR, performances, animations Data and information –Creation, discovery, gathering, aggregation, dis-aggregation, replication, federation, manipulation, transformation, linking, annotation, editing/versioning, validation, (self-)archiving, deposit, publication, curation Knowledge extraction and management –Analysis (textual, musical, statistical, mathematical, visual, chemical, gene……) –Mining (text, data, structures……) –Modelling (economic, mathematical, biological..) –Simulation (molecular, physical, environmental, games…) –Presentation (visualisation, rendering….)

Identifying requirements

Cross Research Council ICT Conference14 Towards a common infrastructure UK e-Science Programme & JISC Development e-Science Phase – 2006 –An Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute (OMII) based on open standards (Web Services) JISC Information Environment –Technical architecture based on open standards (Web Services, OAI-PMH, Z39.50, RSS…..) JISC e-Learning Programme –Technical Framework to support E-Learning

Cross Research Council ICT Conference15 Virtual Research Environments – vision? Standards-based, service-oriented framework –Open standards WSRF, WSRP, WSDL? –Modular, distributed and interoperable tools Integrated –Resource creation, publishing, sharing, discovery Managed / secure / sustainable –Access, rights, archives Usable and accessible –Meet user requirements Personalised –Customised presentation and services Intelligent agents –Delegate routine tasks Extensible –Ease of adding new compliant tools Collaborative –Shared interaction, Access Grid? Portable / ubiquitous access –Wireless, mobile devices

Cross Research Council ICT Conference16 Disciplinary differences Arts and humanities, social sciences –Lone researcher culture but changing Data –Qualitative –Observational –Not repeatable –Incomplete –Time dependent –Ethical and data protection issues –Not always shared Tools and methodologies –Partially developed –Legacy tools Cognitive styles, browsing, searching –Performing and visual arts Skills –Lack of experience of distributed computing

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The scholarly knowledge cycle

Cross Research Council ICT Conference19 Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: national, commercial Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Searching, harvesting, embedding Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

Cross Research Council ICT Conference20 Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: national, commercial Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Searching, harvesting, embedding Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

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Cross Research Council ICT Conference27 Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: national, commercial Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Searching, harvesting, embedding Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

Cross Research Council ICT Conference28 Learning & Teaching workflows Aggregator services: national, commercial Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Institutional presentation services: portals, Learning Management Systems, u/g, p/g courses, modules Harvesting metadata Resource discovery, linking, embedding Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Validation Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Learning object creation, re-use Searching, harvesting, embedding Quality assurance bodies Validation Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals

Cross Research Council ICT Conference29 Learning & Teaching workflows Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: national, commercial Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Institutional presentation services: portals, Learning Management Systems, u/g, p/g courses, modules Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Learning object creation, re-use Searching, harvesting, embedding Quality assurance bodies Validation Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

Cross Research Council ICT Conference30 Learning & Teaching workflows Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: eBank UK Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Institutional presentation services: portals, Learning Management Systems, u/g, p/g courses, modules Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Learning object creation, re-use Searching, harvesting, embedding Quality assurance bodies Validation Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

Cross Research Council ICT Conference31 eBank UK project JISC-funded for 1 year from September 2003 UKOLN (lead), University of Southampton, University of Manchester Building the links between research data, scholarly communication and learning e-Science testbed Combechem –Grid-enabled combinatorial chemistry –Crystallography, laser and surface chemistry –Development of an e-Lab using pervasive computing technology –National Crystallography Service Resource Discovery Network PSIgate physical sciences portal

Challenges for the future

Cross Research Council ICT Conference33 Issues and implications 1 Towards a common infrastructure –Incremental convergence? –Common Information Environment Institutional –Grid client problem –Managing trusted digital repositories Describing resources –Standard metadata schema for data? –CLRC Scientific Metadata Model vs (under revision) –Richness and complexity vs simplicity and sharing –Semantic descriptions and shared ontologies –Identifiers: generic and domain

Cross Research Council ICT Conference34 Issues and implications 2 Human resources –Awareness of developments –Engagement and roles –Skills development –JISC Awareness & Training Environment for e-Social Science –JISC ICT Awareness & Training Programme for A&H Cultural –Willingness to share data Legal –IPR, consent, privacy Funders –Incentives to engage

Cross Research Council ICT Conference35 Learning & Teaching workflows Research & e-Science workflows Aggregator services: eBank UK Repositories : institutional, e-prints, subject, data, learning objects Data curation: databases & databanks Institutional presentation services: portals, Learning Management Systems, u/g, p/g courses, modules Validation Harvesting metadata Data creation / capture / gathering: laboratory experiments, Grids, fieldwork, surveys, media Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Peer-reviewed publications: journals, conference proceedings Publication Validation Data analysis, transformation, mining, modelling Resource discovery, linking, embedding Deposit / self- archiving Learning object creation, re-use Searching, harvesting, embedding Quality assurance bodies Validation Presentation services: subject, media-specific, data, commercial portals Resource discovery, linking, embedding Linking

Cross Research Council ICT Conference36 Potential longer term impact 1.Track data, information and workflows in e-research and scholarly communications – knowledge audit?? 2.Validate the accuracy and authenticity of derived works – ideas audit?? 3.Facilitate explicit referencing and acknowledgment of original contributors – intellectual integrity?? 4.Raise standards associated with publication of research outputs – academic publishing rigour?? 5.Implement open access to and dissemination of data and information – enhance the research process?? 6.Give students links to original data underpinning published works – enhance the learning process??

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Thank you. Questions?…..